The universal method of storing garments is to drape each garment on the well-known wire hanger shaped for the purpose and having a hook which may be "hooked" into a horizontal bar. Such bars are often located in a clothes closet that is poorly lighted making it difficult for a person to find and withdraw a particular garment from the bar when many garments are hung on the bar pushed together to form a close stack. Furthermore, when the garments form a close stack the garment will be crushed and not hang "straight" resulting in wrinkling. In addition, as the person slides hangers on the bar seeking to find a particular garment, some of the garments tend to slide off the hanger and fall to the floor.
Spacers have been developed which may be positioned on the bar in order to maintain each garment at a preset distance from its neighboring garments.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,389 describes a plurality of tubes that slide onto the bar so that each end of each tube may butt against an end of a neighboring tube. Each tube has at least one groove circumferentially formed on its outer surface so that the hook of a hanger may rest in the groove and may thereby be secured at a distance from its neighbor. A split ring design is also suggested (Column 2 Line 64-69). The problem with this design is that the hangers can rest on the surface of the sleeve or easily come out of the shallow groove, thus not accomplishing maintaining the spacing of the hangers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,766 discloses a triple flange spool assembly (a tube with disks spaced laterally apart from one another). A variety of groove types are used to accommodate a variety of hanger hook types. The spool ends (discs) abut. This design also presents the inconvenience of removing the clothes bar to slide the spacer onto the bar. Also it is difficult to transfer a hanger from one groove to another when needed.
U S. Pat. No. 4,760,929 discloses a design in which the spacing element is a partial section of a cylinder having a longitudinal (slit) opening defined by two straight parallel edges. The cylinder section is flexible so that the straight edges may be momentarily spread apart in order to allow the cylinder section to clamp onto the supporting bar. One side of the cylinder section has a straight notched ridge for receiving the hangers. The problem with this construction is that loss of clamping force due to the general nature of plastics or slight variations of the diameter of a bar from a mean diameter allows the spacer to rotate on the bar and orient the notched ridge to a position that negates its intended purpose, i.e. gravity will cause the fin to rotate under the bar.
Other examples of art such as spacers or rollers for towels which show variations of design that do not anticipate this invention include: U.S. Pat. No. 2,058,416 which shows a clip to prevent towels from slipping off towel bars; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,482 which shows a rotatable round sleeve to fit on a square towel bar.
Devices not intended for the purposes of this invention have been suggested in the literature. U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,409 shows a slotted weight for a golf club; 1,934 170 shows a textile machinery spool; U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,169 shows a cork hub for a fishing reel; U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,085 shows a 4 part collapsible spool-type reel; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,713,525 shows a reel bushing for electrical cable. None of these constructions offer the advantages associated with this invention.